A Migration

So, you might be thinking to yourself, "Hey, this doesn't look like your old blog."  Bingo.
I just wanted to write a quick note as to why we left the SMOi Blog as our primary blog and created a new one (or two).
The Snowbird Missions Outreach International (SMOi) ministry has evolved quite a bit in the last couple of years.  That's a good thing, but when we started participating in the SMOi Blog, we were part of a community of missionaries that posted communally on smoiblog.blogspot.com.  With perhaps a few exceptions, we felt like we had become, by default, part of a dying breed of posters to that blog.  That being said, Racheal and i wanted to create blogs that were more personal to us in design and following.  We may still post on the SMOi Blog from time to time, but not as our primary blog.
Why "Wild Oaks?"  Though we like oak trees a lot, we weren't pursuing any "go green" fads when we came up with the blog name.  That being said, one of our family's favorite passages in Scripture is Isaiah 61 which reads:

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

because the Lord has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor;

he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,

and the day of vengeance of our God;

to comfort all who mourn;

to grant to those who mourn in Zion—

to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;

that they may be called oaks of righteousness,

the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

They shall build up the ancient ruins;

they shall raise up the former devastations;

they shall repair the ruined cities,

the devastations of many generations.

Oaks of Righteousness seems a bit conceded to call oneself, but since we know that the righteousness is not our own, but instilled (or as the above verse states, "planted") in us by the Living God, we like the term.  Even so, if you know any thing about the Pendergrass clan, you know that are a bit unconventional, rowdy, raw, unpredicatble, uncouth, reckless, and (hence the blog name) wild.  This is a multi-generational attribute of my paternal blood line, and thankfully, i don't see any chance of it ending in my own progeny.  God loves wild people.  It's a characteristic that He possesses Himself.
That being said, we celebrate being oaks that are wild and have thus named our blog.
Thanks for reading,
'til the whole world hears,
corey

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